Patrick Leonard

Patrick Leonard is a local SEO professional and digital marketing strategist. He’s the owner at Brighter Digital where he works with small to medium sized businesses to drive growth with tailored digital strategies. He also leverages his flexibility to travel the world as much as possible.

Where did the idea for Brighter Digital come from?

While I was working as the marketing director for a local Ford dealership I had an opportunity to take on some freelance work through my network. I took 4 months off to travel the world and freelance. I started Brighter Digital when I got home and I’m still going.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

I’m not a morning person – I usually get up around 9:00am and ease into the day with a shower, meditation, or just jumping right into emails. I struggle to stay focused for extended periods so I break my work day up with workouts, errands, or other tasks which helps keep my work hours more productive.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I tend to overthink what I’m doing and while I think analysis is important I’ve started just doing things and experimenting. It seems simple but it’s how I got my business started in the first place. It’s also helped me do things that I find uncomfortable like launching my podcast.

What’s one trend that excites you?

I’m equal parts excited and terrified by voice marketing. I’m primarily an SEO so it’s very disruptive but I’m also excited by new tech that continues to make life and information more convenient.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

I’m one of those people that has to pull out a dictionary if I hear I word I don’t know. I think the desire to understand how everything works has given me a more holistic look at digital marketing that allows me to see the bigger picture.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Get started. Get started right now. I wasted too much time on jobs I didn’t really care about.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on?

Anybody can do long term travel. It’s not as hard or expensive as you think.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Read books.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

Search Engine Optimization. I’m primarily an SEO so I thought it was important for my own business to rank well for appearances sake but getting more visibility with the right audience has also generated valuable business opportunities.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

I built my first ecommerce website with a minimal time investment. The website didn’t look great, I had no patience, and there wasn’t any high quality content to build trust so naturally it didn’t do well. I was able to apply those lessons to future projects.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

I think the beautiful thing about the internet is that even the weirdest thing you’re into could probably be turned into a business. Chances are there’s enough other people around the world who are into that same thing. I was really intrigued by Kevin Kelly’s “1000 true fans” concept.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

The Calm App for meditation. It’s been a great addition to my morning routine that helps me get mentally prepared for the day.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?

SEMrush is a tool I use everyday for competitor and keyword research to help me deliver SEO results.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

It’s hard to pick one but let’s go with “Tools of Titans” by Tim Ferriss. Valuable insights from high performers across the board with plenty of other excellent book recommendations you can read after.

What is your favorite quote?

“I’m not saying that you have to be a reader to save your soul in the modern world. I’m saying it helps.” Walter Mosley

Key learnings:

Stop thinking so much and start doing

Make sure your website/content is optimized for voice search

Read more books, you won’t regret it

If you have trouble focusing on your work try breaking up your work periods, I also recommend meditation

Whatever you are most passionate about in life could potentially be a business. Wouldn’t it be more fun to make money from that?